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Kelly | Fantasy & Romance 📚

@wannabefmc

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🦝 Chaotic reading & reviewing raccoon
😭 Emotional reader
🚫 GenAI
🗑DNF supporter
🎉ARC addict
📖 Indie bookstore adventurer

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We have all read books where the spice just wasn't hitting the spot. Pun fully intended 🤣 What are the things that make and break spice for you?

#bookrecs #bookishthoughts #booklover #spicybooks #smuttyreads by @wannabefmc

Most people don't know that in addition to being a reader, I'm also an audiobook narrator. I have a background in acting and radio and I obviously love to read so I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out, I love it!

This came up at Bummer Camp and I'd promised everyone I'd share more info so here it is!

Message me is there is a title you're interested in listening to. My only request is to please leave a review of you remember. And if you're an author who would like to work with my, slide into my DMs 😉 You can also follow me @voicedbykelly

#audiobook #audiobooks #narrator ##bummercampforever #wantmetoreadtoyou @bummercampforever by @wannabefmc

Hi, I’m Kelly 👋📚

I'm a professional TBR expander, "just one-more-chapter" late night reader and the person who will always encourage you to buy the book or cool bookish merch.

Around here you can expect:
📚 Book recommendations
📚 Honest reviews (including when something wasn't for me)
📚 ARC reviews and what you should add to your TBR
📚 Someone enabling your next book purchase
📚 Things that make me laugh

If you love strong FMCs, men written by women, indie authors and adding books to your TBR faster than you can read them…you’re in the right place.

Tell me your current read or your forever favorite book so I can immediately add it to my TBR.

#Bookstagram #meetthebookstagrammer #booklover #romancereader #romantasy by @wannabefmc

You know what, October wasn't a great reading month by any measure. Lots of books that i thought were just okay and I didn't read as much as usual.

The standout was Sunflower Season by Danica Nava which comes out November 3rd. Everyone should run get that.

What was your favorite read from October?

#bookrecommendations #bookreviews #readingwrapup #audiobooks #romancereader by @wannabefmc

What did I think of Once, Again, Always? It was okay.

The story follows Molly, who has a stroke and loses her memory of the last six years. When she wakes up, she discovers she's married to her high school enemy and rival. Aster, her husband and former enemy is doing his best to help her remember their love and happiness.

What I really liked was the supporting cast of characters. Her friends and the support they show for both Molly and Aster was fun and funny but also heartbreaking at times. It was really hard to imagine Molly's friends, some of whom she doesn't remember at all, try to rebuild their friendship. Also, Aster's longing for the woman he loved was so apparent. It was difficult at times to imagine trying to hold all of those memories alone.

The narration was also really well done. I thought both Lauren Fortgang and Will Damron did fantastic jobs. Lauren in particular really differentiated the female characters with her subtle tone and cadence shifts.

What I didn't like was that there are still threads of this being a Harry Potter fanfic. You can still tell this is Hermione and Draco and there is one scene in particular where the magical language that was used really highlighted it. I also didn't enjoy the 3rd person POV coupled with duet narration. I enjoy duet narration most when we are getting different POVs and it felt unnecessary for a 3rd person POV.

I would try something from this author again but would want it to be with original characters.

Thank you to the publisher for this advanced reader copy. All opinions are more own.

#bookrecs #bookreviews #arcreader #romancereader #amnesia by @wannabefmc

Dire Bound was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were elements that I really enjoyed and some that missed the mark or felt overly predictable.

Dire Bound follows Meryn, a commoner who is doing her best to care for her mentally ill mother and little sister by fighting in illegal matches. When her sister is kidnapped by the siphons (vampires), she joins the army as a way to try and get close the front lines of the war and save her.

I enjoyed the setup of this book quite a bit. The commoner versus wealthy royals dynamic and the added interest of bonded wolves was different. That is where things kind of fell off for me. The ending also felt too jam packed with to me speaks of a problem with the pacing.

*spoilers ahead*

Some of my disappointment in this book may be due to reading a book right before that had almost the identical plot. Common woman in a relationship with a prince but she didn't know ends up competing in deadly trials and she turns out to be the chosen one.

I do appreciate that Killian wasn't SO obviously bad from the beginning but the author did enough foreshadowing that the twist made sense. The part the bothered me was how oblivious Meryn was. Every step of the way it's like she didn't use a shred of critical thinking. Why is my hair totally silver? Why is my wolf so angry with me? Why would this wolf bond with me even when I didn't want it? Why did the king approve of a commoner as the next queen immediately? Why did Killian lie to me? Stark wants to kill me, except that he's also training me. It's like there were so many questions that she just flew right past.

I'll have to sit with this one and see if I want to continue the series.

#bookreviews #bookrecs #romantasy #fantasy #romantasyreader by @wannabefmc

This is a really hard book for me to rate. It was totally different from anything I've read before and I guess I'd classify it as a thriller.

The Dating Game follows Tilda, a board game designer living in Monaco after the death of her mother. Trying to honor her mothers final wishes, she's trying to make friends and find love in the only way she knows how, by turning them into games. Tilda's point of view was challenging at times because while it was never outright said, she clearly has some kind of neurodivergence that has her navigating the world in a more clinical, less emotionally connected capacity.

While I didn't love the book and I thought the couple of twists at the end were quite predictable, I did keep coming back for more and rooting for Tilda to win.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

#bookrecs #bookreviews #thrillers #arcreader #femininerage by @wannabefmc

I was so excited to read this as I love Nish J Tuli's Trial of the Sun Queen. It's smart and sexy and full of twists and yearning. I thought that would lend itself well to contemporary romance. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me.

Let me start with the things I really liked. The setting is perfect! In fact, Churchill has been added to my travel list so I can see the northern lights and possibly polar bears. The setup of a nature photographer being trapped in a snowstorm with a broody lodge owner was fantastic. I also enjoyed the diverse cast of characters. That's where things kind of ended for me.

I found the FMC to be so cowardly. All of the tension and conflict was built on the fact that she didn't want to stand up to her family, her ex-fiancé, her ex-fiancés mom, her boss, anyone and yet she's got lots to say about how other people live their lives. Even in the end she's practically unable to get out of her own way for love.

Next, we've got the MMC. He's grumpy because of a past experience with a travel writer. That's it. He's mean to her from the start because of that. I did enjoy that he was a caretaker of the FMC and the people around him. That seemed to be the only actual character trait he had besides broody, hot and scowling. Oh! And his nickname for her is Gossip Girl. 🙄

The dialog between all the characters felt stilted and unrealistic. The friendships that were made at the lodge felt like they grew way to fast and only in service of having fun side characters. The jokes weren't funny and somehow in the span of like a week, the FMC can't see her life without the MMC. I won't even touch on the complete 180 of not wanting to get married and have roots to I'll change everything for the right person.

I had really high hopes for this one and they weren't met. Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

#bookrecs #bookreviews #romance #arcreader #romancebooks by @wannabefmc

Book friends, I need your help! I'm having a real "my lobster is too buttery, my steak is to juicy" type problem. I have a bad habit of starting series and getting distracted. All of these are finished, and yet, I haven't finished them. Tell me where you think I should start?

Artifacts of Ouranos by Nisha J Tuli
The Stonewater Kingdom by Rachel Gillig
Kindred's Curse Saga by Penn Cole
Chestnut Springs by Elsie Silver
Kingdom of Lies by Stacia Stark
Lovelight by BK Borison
Cambric Creek by CM Noscasta
The Legends of Thezmarr by Helen Scheurer

#finishedseries #bookrecommendations #fantasy #romance #romantasy by @wannabefmc

Do yourself a favor and pre-order Sunflower Season now. It'll be out November 4th.

One of my favorite parts about Sunflower Season is that it has some of my least favorite tropes, childhood sweethearts & second chance romance, and yet Danica Nava navigated the story and characters so expertly that I enjoyed something I normally wouldn't. I love when authors do tropes that might not be my favorite in a way that feels genuine and engaging.

June is working a soul sucking, corporate tech job and when her misogynistic boss takes credit for her work she leaves in a Jerry Maguire style that all of us have imagined before. With no job and nothing tying her down, she decides to go back to Love County, Oklahoma to bring the sunflower farm that used to be part of her families land back to life.

Noah is June's childhood best friend and first love. He is now the fire captain and is the golden boy of the town. Noah is an absolute golden retriever who wants nothing more than to have June in his life.

I adored the way that the characters navigated grief in the book. Noah accepts June as she is and isn't frightened away by her sadness and sharp edges. I enjoyed seeing Noah trying so hard to respectfully and patiently break down June's walls despite his own anger and sadness about their past.

I have Danica Nava's other books on my bookshelf already and am now even more excited to read them. This is the perfect, quick but emotional read for the Fall.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

#bookreviews #bookrecs #arcreader #smalltownromance #romancereader by @wannabefmc

What better way to start the week of than with horny books. And by horny, I mean at least one of these characters has horns...obviously. These are all books that I loved story and the spice was top notch. What are your top horny lady books?

Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nacosta
Camera Shy by Kay Cove
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
Lights Out by Navessa Allen
Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian
People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young
Personal Best by Jonesy Elise
Soul Searching by Lyla Sage
Rules of Our Own by J. Wilder
Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage

#romancereader #romance #bookbuyingproblem #bookrecommendations #bookrecs by @wannabefmc

This was my very first Lucy Score book and it was a good time. It was sweet and romantic and I enjoyed the hint of a mystery woven throughout.

The story follows Maggie, a home renovation influencer who returns to a small Idaho town from her childhood to rehab the house of her dreams. She meets Silas, local hot landscaper and town golden boy who is instantly in love with her. Like, I just met my wife within minutes, kind of instant love.

One thing that I didn't love was that the story is written in 3rd person so while there were character PoV changes, it was tough because you never felt like you were totally in one characters perspective.

The narration by Emma Wilder was fantastic and felt really genuine and authentic and she has some of the best male voices in the game. Because this is 3rd person PoV, it lent itself to a single narrator and she does it perfectly.

It took me a while to finish this because I just kept getting pulled out and not feeling excited to get back into it. I'll 100% read more Lucy Score books and will be interested to see if she always writes in 3rd person.

Are you a Lucy Score fan?

#bookreviews #bookrecs #audiobooks #audiobook #romance by @wannabefmc